Iran, Gazprom discuss strategic gas cooperation
Iran’s Ambassador to Russia Kazem Jalali and National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) CEO Saeed Tavakoli met Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller to discuss implementation of a strategic memorandum of understanding on natural gas cooperation, as Tehran and Moscow move to advance a 30-year gas supply agreement signed last year.
“The parties discussed potential cooperation in the gas sector,” TASS reported.
Jalali met Miller at Gazprom’s headquarters in St. Petersburg during a visit to attend international industry and energy events, the official IRNA news agency reported.
The meeting followed multiple rounds of technical talks between representatives of the two countries’ gas industries aimed at putting the strategic cooperation framework into practice, with the two sides reporting positive results.
The National Iranian Gas Company and Gazprom signed a 30-year deal last June to transfer Russian gas to Iran. Under the agreement, Iran will receive up to 55 billion cubic meters of gas a year through a new pipeline that Moscow plans to build across the Caspian Sea.
Iranian officials have said the Russian supply would help address domestic gas shortages, strengthen Iran’s gas export capacity on a sustainable basis and turn the country into a regional gas hub.
Iran holds the world’s second-largest natural gas reserves after Russia, with around 34 trillion cubic meters.
Iranian Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad said in July, after meeting Russian Energy Minister Sergei Tsivilev in Tehran, that negotiations on a gas trade agreement between Iran and Russia had advanced, with the two sides reaching agreement on the main provisions of the final contract.